184 Bells... an idea

[J.c. Sherman]

So, I've heard of two excellent Miraphone 184s which had Besson Imperial Eb (or its Yamaha Clone) placed in them very successfully. ROb Bishop had access to a "Miraha" or "Yamaphone" when I was studying with him, and it was excellent. Roger Bobo commented that the replacement "opened up the horn considerably".

And I scratch my head... While I'm tempted to make such a swap... has anyone ever thought to place a Sovereign bell in a 184? It has the ideal CC diameter by some people's reckoning. Ever heard of it?

Scratchy-beard moment for the day...

[bort]

Ben Vokits swapped out the bell on his 184 with something else, but I think it was a Meinl-Weston bell. I can't remember... maybe he will chime in with the details and his experience with it (it's been a few months at least now).

[T. J. Ricer]

If one Boosey/Besson Eb bell fits, then, in theory at least, you should be able to swap it out with any of the Besson bells, not just the 15" one like Bobo did. How would a 184 sound with the 17" 983 bell? Or the 19" 981/982 bell?

Also, any horn based on the Boosey bottom bow. . .
for Yamaha the 15" YEB-321 bell as mentioned, but possibly also the YFB-822 or YEB-631 17" bell, or the YEB-632 19" bell. A cheaper route might be to switch out with the Jin Bao Fletcher copy or the new smaller belled Wessex Eb. . . probably several other similar horns as well.

IIRC, Ben put an Alexander F tuba bell on his 184, but need to keep a couple of inches of the original bell stack for it to be big enough to fit.

T. J. "actually scratching my beard while writing this" Ricer

as a ps, since it is slightly off topic: Several years back, Tim Owens built the upsized version of this for me by putting a York Eb bell on a 186. The result is a great playing horn that I've used on a couple of recitals, orchestra gigs, and weddings when my 6/4 seemed like too much.

[royjohn]

If you decide to try the "Fletcher clone" bell, get on Ali Baba, look up that tuba and email their contact, asking if they will sell you just a bell. Since you aren't buying a whole tuba, you don't have any worries about intonation problems or assembly defects. The bell also weighs less than the whole horn, so shipping will be less. I have bought or solicited bids on several things this way, including one Chinese trumpet which I knew would need tweaking, and I've been offered prices that were better than those posted on the American outlet's website. I have a friend who converts Chinese trumpets to custom instruments and he buys parts from Jin Bao's American outlet frequently.